1964-D Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-021

Description

Formally designated by the Wexler Team as Wexler Variety ID: 1964-D 1¢ WDDR-021, this doubled die reverse variety is part of the extensive DDR catalog for the 1964-D Lincoln Memorial Cent. The reverse doubling was created during the die manufacturing process when the reverse working hub — carrying Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial design — was pressed into the die blank at a fractionally different position between impressions, embedding a permanent secondary image of the reverse design elements in the die steel. Once placed in service on the Denver Mint's production line, the doubled reverse die reproduced this anomaly on every cent it struck, creating a population of identically doubled coins that variety collectors seek to locate and attribute. The 1964-D cent's extraordinary mintage of 3,799,071,500 pieces — the highest single-mint Lincoln cent production at that time — was part of the Mint's all-out effort to combat the national coin shortage that had disrupted commercial activity across the country. This massive production consumed thousands of reverse working dies over the course of the year, each manufactured through its own independent hubbing session, and the doubled die varieties documented in the Wexler catalog represent the subset of those sessions where detectable hub misalignment occurred. The 1964-D cent holds the distinction of being the last Denver Mint Lincoln cent to carry the "D" mint mark before the 1965-67 suspension mandated by Congress. Struck on a 95% copper and 5% tin-zinc planchet weighing 3.11 grams at 19mm diameter, the coin bears the Brenner portrait and Gasparro Memorial reverse.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1964-D 1¢ WDDR-021
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References